Beautiful People - Lord FitzDraco

“Three riders there are in all Plenilune none other man born of woman can match—Lord FitzDraco of Orzelon-gang, my own Lord Skander Rime, and Dammerung War-wolf.”

Plenilune

I already did a Beautiful People post for January, but I have done multiples before and I will undoubtedly do multiples again. There aren't any rules about that kind of thing and I should like to dig about in this gentleman's character a little and get to know him better, for he is "flagrantly unsociable" and isn't easy to know. Hmph.

Before all that, here's a reminder that we're coming up on the end of The New Year Writing Contest for The Penslayer and Scribbles and Inkstains. Rules (and prizes!) can be found on the contest's page. If you feel like joining, you still have time before the end of the month to brainstorm and scribble!

Lord FitzDraco of Orzelon-gang

1. If his house burned down and he was left with nothing but the clothes on his back, what would he do? Where would he go?

Lord FitzDraco makes for a grim master, but a good one. If his house at Gemeren (which he holds in fief to his king Mark Roy) were to burn down, a good part of the burning would be spent getting people and things out. Because he is a knight of the king he would seek residence and succour (and get it) at Orzelon-gang, but the journey would be spent in a kind of private agony over the loss of the house he had built and the difficulty of finding lodgings for his people and making sure they were cared for.

2. Is he happy with where he is in life, or would he like to move on?

Happy is not a word one could use for FitzDraco. His natural demeanour is grim, his preference solitude. He is not frequently moved to either happiness or anger; his emotions can best be described as a steadfast monotone of contentment and loyalty, loathing and hatred, depending on who is the recipient of these emotions.

He holds a fine manor at Gemeren, built by himself and named after his father; his people are unquestionably loyal to him, and he is the king’s closest friend. He is perfectly content with his position—though, even without all this, I fancy he would be unmoved by fears of future or desires for betterment. He does not merely take life in stride: he stands unmoved.

3. Is he well-paid?

He has no wants, that is certain. His manor largely sustains itself and brings in a good profit by trade, his king is very generous, and from his own conquests and those of his father the spoil of war is always rich in Gemeren.

4. Can he read?

Yes, oh yes. FitzDraco is a wolfish reader: he positively devours books, though without the slightest ruffle in countenance either for or against the content. The library at Gemeren is very extensive. I shudder and my head fairly turns to think of the tomes he has read—and understood—and retained. I think he must remember everything his reads, though one of his faults is being miser-like with it all. He very rarely divulges his accumulated knowledge to anyone. But I don’t think he does it out of spite, so perhaps I forgive him. I probably wouldn’t understand him anyway if he did try to tell me.

5. What languages does he speak?

Only his own with any luck, and that very rarely. Though Mark Roy looks to him for guidance and council, you are hard-pressed to find the man putting more than four words together in a conversation, and hard-pressed to find him putting more than four conversations together in a day.

6. What is his biggest mistake?

I don’t know what he thinks is his biggest mistake, but a fair lot of people think it was an unwise move of his to take a woman by hand-bond, and that from among a lower class. Herluin is a good woman, and as much a lady as any born among the nobility, but the fact of the matter is that she is not nobility and, though they probably wouldn’t shun her, they consider it unorthodox, and she and her husband choose for her to stay quietly at Gemeren overseeing the manor.

7. What did he play with most as a child?

FitzDraco is the sort of fellow you don’t consider as ever being a child. He seems at first glance to have always been older, with grey hairs among the brown at his temples and the cares of years in his eyes and at the corners of his mouth. He grew up at Gemeren and worked more than he played, and his play often looked like work. For all his grim, unruffled demeanour, he is a very driven soul, bound and determined to be circumspect and blameless before his people, his king, and his God. So nothing that he did ever looked much like play.

8. What are his thoughts on politics?

He is Mark Roy’s man to the last. You never have to worry about his loyalty, you never have to worry about him being discreet (he hardly ever speaks anyway). He is foremostly a council for his king, secondly a sword at his king’s side. As for the question of Overlord, he knows who he does not want, but looking round has yet to see a man he trusts can fill the role to step forward.

9. What is his expected lifetime?

I would expect FitzDraco to live a long, full life and die a warrior to have his body carried back to Gemeren and buried under the elms. Anything can happen in a fight, and no man going into one thinks he will come out again to see tomorrow (though he will hope it with bravado), but FitzDraco is renowned enough in war that he has a good chance of seeing many days before a chance spear sees him.

10. If he were falsely accused of murder, what would he do? How would he react?

If he were accused of murder, FitzDraco is the sort of man you could almost believe could have done it—but the next moment after you could be sure he had not. Because the man has no reactions to anything his countenance would be the same, and I dare say such a cat’s grim stare would knock a person out of sorts after a few unblinking minutes. Besides, one should have a care of accusing people who are the right-hand of a king. One might start a war.